This meatloaf began as a Halloween-themed recipe I found on the Internet. However, my son and I liked it so much I cut the recipe into a third of the original, and cut out the “zombie-style” decorations for cooking any time of the year. Even though I usually use bison, the bacon around it and vegetables inside it keep the meat moist.
Timings
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Wait: 50 minutes
Total: 1 hour 20 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/4C unsalted butter
- 1/2C onion, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4t black pepper
- 1/8t thyme
- 1lb ground bison
- 1/4C bread crumbs
- 1T buttermilk
- 2t ketchup
- 1t Worcestershire sauce
- 1 egg, beaten
- 5 strips bacon, cut in half width-wise
Steps
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the diced onion and celery, and cook until they soften–about five minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic, pepper and thyme, and cook stirring frequently for about a minute. Remove from heat and let cool for at least 10 minutes or until they are near room temperature.
- In a mixing bowl, add the bison, bread crumbs, buttermilk, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and egg. When the vegetables are cool add them as well. Combine well without working the meat too much with your hands. I tend to use a couple forks to mix the ingredients instead of my hands.
- Empty the mixture onto a foil-lined baking sheet and shape into a rectangle roughly 8″ x 4″.
- Place the bacon slices over the loaf and tuck the ends of them under the loaf. Before draping slices over the top, a slice may be placed vertically around the smaller ends of the loaf. The goal is to cover all of the loaf with bacon.
- Bake in a 325°F / 163°C (310°F / 154°C convection) oven until the internal temperature of the loaf is 155°F / 68°C–about 40 minutes.